Sunday, September 18, 2011

Once again @webosinternals has something incredibly amazing. With the tools called Impostah, installed from Preware, it is possible to activating brand new unlocked GSM Pre 2 (actually this is also works for other #webOS device like Veer and Pre 3) to have Global App Catalog Access. This such an extraordinary, especially for someone like me who live outside HP/Palm official country partner. I already tried this myself, with my brand new Pre 2 UK version activated to have access to US App Catalog.

This is the warning from Rod Whitby from @webosinternals:
"You have to note that this procedure is performed at your own risk. The worst that can happen is that you don't get paid app catalog access. If Palm changes anything on the app catalog servers, this procedure may be invalidated without warning. They have done so before, and could do so again"

Here's what you have to do:
1. Take the device out of the box, turn it on WITHOUT inserting any SIM card
2. When the screen show a notification to insert a SIM card, just ignore it
3. Type #*, wait a second, and then when phone dial pad appear you can continue to type the rest of #*3386633# and hit the green phone key
4. The "Developer Mode" app will open, turn it ON, then your device will reboot
5. Once booted, you presented with launcher screen.
6. Connect your device to PC and installing Preware (you can download newest stable version here)
7. Open up Preware, update feeds, then install Impostah
8. Open Impostah, tap on "Activation" menu
9. Select your desired activation country and language
10. Create a new profile (different from your real one, if you already have one before), then hit "Login To Profile" and confirm your request
11. Go to http://palm.com/palmprofile and confirm that your device has been correctly registered
12. Open the App Catalog and confirm that you have paid app catalog access. You can test this by purchasing teh Preware Homebrew Documentation app. A 5 star rating is also a good way to show your thanks.
13. To make sure everything has been initialized correctly, you should do full erase (You can also run the webOS Doctor, if you'd like) and go through the normal official sign-in process. Don't forget to insert a SIM card :)
14. Since your device has been pre-activated with Impostah, you will retain your app catalog country settings.
15. Donate to WebOS Internals